Pastors' Blog

“When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor.” At this sixth anniversary of 9-11 these cryptic words of an ancient prophet (Ezekiel 7:25, 26) give pause for reflection, don’t they? Run through your mind a quick scan of the national and global headlines since that fateful September Tuesday in 2001. Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes—the more than usual intensification of nature. Madrid and London and Baghdad—new hot spots in a post-9-11 world. While Ezekiel wasn’t describing the United States, his stark prediction remains unsettling: “When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none.”

But then, not to worry. Because life goes on, doesn’t it? Neither this nation nor its citizens need live in the paralysis of fear, should we? After all, isn’t human history the seemingly endless cycle of predictable headlines? Doesn’t every generation have its 9-11 or Pearl Harbor or Gettysburg? Not to worry. Or in the words of Bobby McFarren’s 1988 bromide, “Don’t worry—be happy!”

And yet, anniversaries such as this one deserve some reflective thinking, don’t they? Candidly, in the course of my sojourn on this planet I do not remember a time when the brightest thinkers of this generation have seemed so much at a quandary for lack of a workable solution to this civilization’s greatest challenges. Too many are concerned that predictable cycles can no longer explain the growing morass.

Two thousand years ago, after giving a prescient description of what could be our generation, Christ offered his counsel: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). Not exactly a “don’t worry—be happy” quip, but it certainly rings with a very positive call to hope and courage, does it not? Irrespective of the anniversaries or headlines, look on the very bright side—the deliverance of the human race is drawing near!

Which is why you and I can celebrate the hope we find in Jesus. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” And no wonder. Because from beyond the terror comes riding the Prince of Peace. And that is one piece of history I don’t want to miss!

On March 4, 1933, the newly elected president of the United States delivered his inaugural address to the nation.  Four sentences into that address, Franklin Roosevelt uttered the words that have lived long beyond his four-term presidency:  “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”  So spoke the nation’s leader in that dark hour of economic despair. Because that’s what leaders are raised up to do, is it not?  To call the people, the populace, the public to renewed confidence and hope for the journey yet ahead, to remind them of their “rendezvous with destiny.” That’s precisely what an aged leader named Moses did in an ancient book that becomes the grist for our worship journey this new season.  Deuteronomy is in fact the farewell address (no doubt the longest farewell address in history!) of that beloved leader to the children of Israel who had literally grown up under the tutelage of his forty year administration. As we handle the document and text of his last will and testament to this community that had exhausted four decades of wandering in the bleached, barren wilderness south of Canaan, we will ponder the notion that in their wanderings lies the tale of our own journey toward the Promised Land.  For the apostle firmly asserts:  “Now all these things happened to them [in the wilderness] as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (I Corinthians 10:11). Have “the ends of the ages” come upon us?  And are we prepared for the high calling of that “rendevous with destiny?”  What are the lessons of and for “the chosen?”  Journey with me this season as we track the sandy footprints of that chosen generation long, long ago.  And in Moses’ appeal to remember, may we heed the call of another leader who spoke courage into the uncertainty of a journey that yet remained:  “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history” (Life Sketches 196).  Nothing to fear, much to remember, and a future to claim.  It is the shining hour of “The Chosen.”  Shall we not seize it?

How would you like to teach school in New Orleans? The government is endeavoring to attract new teachers to what, even before Hurricane Katrina, was one of the toughest and most challenging school districts in the nation. But now in the post-traumatic stress of that crippled city, recruiters are offering to every teacher willing to move to the Crescent City a two-year signing bonus of $17,000. Any takers? Fact of the matter is that whether you teach in New Orleans or Benton Harbor or Berrien Springs you’ve signed on to a very demanding profession. U.S. Department of Labor statistics report that there are now 3.8 million preschool through high school teachers (public and private) in the United States, with annual earnings ranging (in the latest statistics available) from $26,730 to $71,370. Any takers now? But sit down with a school teacher, private or public, and inquire the motivation that keeps the teacher returning to that noisy classroom day after day, and I predict you’ll not hear a word about “the compensation package.” And probably not too much about the working environment or physical plant either (which isn’t to suggest that such factors aren’t important or vital to these professionals). But to a man and woman among the teachers I’m privileged to know (and work with) the gut motivation and heart response keep coming down to a personal passion for kids, a love of learning and teaching and the desire to change this world one life at a time. And the rewards? Years ago the screen play “Mr. Holland’s Opus” powerfully portrayed the payoff of a high school music teacher, whose dream to compose a world-class opus was perennially preempted by his devotion to the kids who tromped through his band room year after year. Their surprise rendition of his unfinished opus at his retirement program captured the compelling truth about teachers—their greatest life compositions are played out in the lives of their students long after school days are over. I carry these two quotations in my Bible: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth” (Eccl 12:1); and, “What line can we dwell upon that will make the deepest impression upon the human mind? There are our schools” (FE 529). In that juxtaposition is the reason why I thank God for the hundreds of dedicated Christian teaching professionals in this parish. Let the school bells clang—our kids are in the right hands!

It is reported that Christopher Columbus, when he first sighted that landfall, exclaimed:  “Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas honduras!”—”Thank God we have come out of those depths!”  And it stuck—that word “depths”—becoming the proud name of the glorious land from which we’ve just returned.  Honduras.  From its jungled mountain peaks above 9000 feet to its white-sanded coastline, from its sprawling estates for the wealthy to its impoverished barrios for the masses, this nation of seven million is a dramatic study in contrasts.

Spiritual contrasts, too.  Which is why a team of fifteen of us—all of us bound together by the sap and branches of the same family tree (Watts-Nelson)—flew into La Ceiba (Honduras’ third largest city) a few weeks ago on a humanitarian-medical-evangelistic mission on behalf of the global ministry, The Quiet Hour.  The strategy was simple:  conduct daily medical-dental clinics in the city, followed by simultaneous nightly evangelistic meetings at five different sites.  Which meant that morning and evening, we communicated in “the language of heaven” (to quote that familiar piece of Hispanic pride) through our medical and evangelistic partners, our translators.

And may I humbly observe that when it comes to a passion for growing the kingdom of Christ on earth, our Honduran brothers and sisters are without peer!  I was assigned the sports arena in downtown La Ceiba.  And each evening as I watched the busses drive in with men, women and children from across the city, I couldn’t help but marvel, not only at the eagerness of the crowd to attend a religious event, but at the indefatigable commitment of the pastors and church members to reach those newcomers night after night.  My assignment was to preach a “decision” sermon each evening (one that ended with an appeal to accept Christ as Savior, to follow him as Lord, and to be baptized) that concluded with an altar call.  An altar call over five or ten minutes here at Pioneer means we start fidgeting with discomfort.  But our altar calls there in La Ceiba (at all our sites) would often last thirty to forty-five minutes!  And the people responded.  In fact, a large swimming pool at the front of the arena just below our preaching platform became a baptistery at the close of every sermon.  Some of those baptized had made their decision previous to that evening—but there were many who made a decision in that arena, came forward, and were baptized on the spot—just like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8!  It was a sight to behold.  Sometimes I just stood there in awe at the moving of the Spirit.  And at the earnest appeals that both pastors and members alike would make as they moved among those who came forward, as well as among those who remained in their seats.  I have never witnessed anything quite like it!

Our arena meetings became a “first” for Honduras by telecasting each evening live on a local station, owned by an Adventist family—which meant that our reach far exceeded the sports arena.  One evening an “observer” sent from a popular church in town attended the meeting, was convicted by the Spirit, came forward in the altar call for the Sabbath, and was baptized then and there!

When our mission concluded, Peter Simpson, the conference president, reported that 1,053 individuals had accepted Christ and been baptized at all our sites.  Somebody must have been praying!  Fervent prayer teams were on site praying each night, and I know many of you were, too.  Praise God and thank you.  Lessons to be learned?  Perhaps in another blog we can share a few.  But a mission in July confirms God’s promise:  “[They] went everywhere preaching the word. . . . And there was great joy in that city” (Acts 8:4, 8).